


Now I've got you in my space

by rsadelle



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Babysitting, Dating, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-27
Updated: 2014-11-27
Packaged: 2018-02-27 06:01:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2681789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rsadelle/pseuds/rsadelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alex and Brandon date, and sometimes babysit Alex's nephew.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Now I've got you in my space

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Kelfin for helping me figure out the Russian naming conventions, to Lake for letting me talk this through, and to everyone on Twitter who answered miscellaneous questions as I went along. Title from Disclosure's "Latch" featuring Sam Smith.

Anna's always been beautiful, and the glow of motherhood has only deepened that. But it's Alex Brandon can't stop looking at. Alex who's smiling softly as he takes the baby from Anna. Alex whose eyes are bright and shining with joy when he turns around and says, "This is my nephew." It hits Brandon like a punch to the gut, that what he feels for Alex is a love just as strong, fierce, and joyful as what's on Alex's face.

Alex's smile falters.

Brandon jerks forward out of his stunned stillness. "Hi, nephew," he says, smiling at the baby.

"Vanyushka," Alex says.

"Vanyushka," Brandon repeats, running a finger over the baby's cheek. He smiles at the baby, at Alex, at Anna behind them. "He's beautiful. Looks like a Galchenyuk already." He brings his gaze back to Alex, who looks away, down at the baby instead of meeting Brandon's eyes.

Brandon gets pushed out of the way by Gally then, and steps back a little.

"Vanya," Alex says, introducing the baby to Gally. "This is Gally. Never listen to him."

Gally laughs, slightly lower volume than usual the only concession to the baby's presence.

Brandon even loves the teasing smirk on Alex's face while he talks to Gally.

He's so caught up in watching that he doesn't notice Manny coming to stand next to him until he thumps Brandon on the back. Brandon turns his probably still dazed face toward him.

"Yep," Manny says with a grin that seems to say he knows exactly how Brandon feels. "That's the way it happens sometimes."

"Uh," Brandon says.

Manny pats his shoulder, and Brandon turns to watch while Alex lets Gally hold his nephew.

"You have to support his head."

"I know how to hold a baby," Gally says with a laugh while Alex hovers to make sure he's doing it right.

The baby gets passed around to a couple of the other guys under Alex's watchful eye, until he starts fussing and Alex takes him back.

The other guys lose some of their interest then, and Brandon can go over to Alex again without a crowd of people between them.

"I didn't get a chance to hold him," Brandon says, the only thing he can think to say.

Alex looks at him, eyes dark and serious, and down at the baby. He murmurs something to the baby in Russian; the only things Brandon catch are "Vanyushka" and his own name. Then Alex hands the baby over, hands careful and gentle, but without the instructions on how to hold him he gave the other guys, like he just trusts Brandon.

It keeps Brandon silent for a moment while he gets Vanyushka settled against his shoulder, one hand spanning the whole of the baby's back. "There you go," Brandon murmurs to him. "There you go, nothing to be unhappy about here." He sways a little in the way of people holding sleepy babies everywhere, and presses a kiss to the baby's hair when he has to look away from the solemn, trusting way Alex is watching him.

*

"Hey, hey, hey, Chucky." Brandon catches the back of Alex's t-shirt as he wanders down the hallway.

Alex tugs out of Brandon's hold and turns to face him with a glare. "What?"

"Lunch," Brandon says, unfazed by Alex's posturing.

"Yes," Alex says, gesturing toward the lounge. "Lunch."

"No," Brandon says. "Real lunch. We eat here all the time." He claps Alex on the back. "Take a shower. Put on something that won't make me embarrassed to be seen with you." He ignores Alex's pointed look that takes in their matching Habs shirts and shorts. "Come on, Chucky, ten minutes and we're going to get real food."

Seven minutes later, Alex is dressed in a soft-looking long sleeve shirt that makes Brandon want to snuggle up to him and standing behind Brandon at the counter chirping him as he combs his hair.

"You don't have to be all pretty to have lunch," Alex says.

Brandon smiles at him in the mirror, one of his flirtatious ones. "You think I'm pretty?"

"No," Alex says, flustered and not sounding convinced. "Can we just go?"

Brandon stops messing with his hair and turns around, giving Alex an obvious once-over. "I guess you'll have to be pretty enough for both of us."

He walks past Alex, leaving him to finish spluttering before he follows Brandon out of the room.

Brandon doesn't go too fancy for lunch, but he drives them to a place a little nicer than the kind of sandwich and burger places he knows Alex and Gally go sometimes.

Brandon turns the volume of his flirting down a little over lunch - he wants Alex to have fun, not spend the whole time embarrassed - and asks about Vanyushka.

Alex's face lights up when he tells Brandon about his nephew, love shining out of him like a beacon.

"This is probably all boring," Alex says after about fifteen minutes about how great Vanya is.

"No," Brandon says. "I don't know any babies, so it's all new to me." He doesn't tell Alex about the part where he just wants to bask in Alex's presence when he's like that, but it makes Alex smile anyway.

At the end of the meal, Brandon uses the smoothness he's developed over many years of dating to pay the check without letting Alex even look at it.

"I would have paid half," Alex says when he realizes what's happening.

Brandon shrugs. "I don't mind buying you lunch."

Alex blinks at him, and then smiles, one of the surprisingly sweet ones he sometimes gives Brandon. "Thank you."

Brandon nods, not trusting himself to open his mouth just then.

*

There's a group of guys gathering in the hotel lobby when Brandon heads down.

"Are you coming to dinner with us?" Alex asks.

It's a tempting offer, but Tampa Bay doesn't just mean a chance for them to all get some sun. It's also a chance for Brandon to catch up with Brian.

"Not this time," Brandon says. "I have plans."

Alex looks at him skeptically. "What kind of plans?"

Brandon nods toward the door, where Brian is coming into the lobby. "Ex-teammate kinds of plans."

Brian catches sight of him and comes their way. He gets to them just as Gally says, "You're fraternizing with the enemy."

"Just for the evening," Brandon says, and he steps into Brian's hug. "Hey, man."

"Hey," Brian says. He steps back and holds Brandon at arms' length. "Looking good."

Brandon smirks. "I've always been better dressed than you."

"Oh, fuck you," Brian says with a laugh.

Alex and Gally are still hovering next to Brandon, so he introduces everyone. "These two are Alex and Brendan. Guys, this is Brian."

"The enemy," Gally says cheerfully as he shakes Brian's hand.

Brian laughs. "I'm not the enemy tonight. Don't worry. I'll return him unharmed."

"You'd better," Alex says with one of those serious looks on his face.

Brandon puts an arm around Alex's shoulders. "Relax, Chucky. I can handle Brian." He recognizes the look on Brian's face that says he's trying very hard not to laugh at them. "I'll go out with you next time."

Alex looks at Brandon, and it's like they're in their own tiny bubble of space for a moment. Alex cracks first, and shoves at Brandon. "We're going to have more fun than you are."

Brandon lets him go and laughs. "We can compare stories over breakfast tomorrow."

Gally and Alex melt back into the crowd of guys getting ready to go out for dinner, and Brandon follows Brian out of the hotel to his car.

Brian waits until he's pulling out of the parking lot before he says, "Alex."

"What about him?" Brandon asks, trying and failing not to sound defensive.

"I saw that look," Brian says. "You're in love with him."

Brandon doesn't bother to deny it. "Yeah."

"Well, don't fuck it up."

Brandon laughs. "Thanks for the advice."

"Hey, any time," Brian says with a grin.

*

Brandon's all settled in on his bed in Vancouver, pajama pants and old t-shirt he wears to bed on, phone in his hand, movie playing on TV, when there's a knock on his door. Going by the voices he can hear in the hallway as he gets closer, he has a pretty good idea what he's going to find when he opens it, and sure enough, there's Alex, grumpy face fully engaged, in his pajamas with iPad and phone in one hand and Gally hanging out of the open door across the hall.

"Brendan's being annoying," Alex says.

"Come on," Gally says across the hall. "I said I was sorry."

Brandon has no intention of getting in the middle of whatever's going on with them, but Alex is gorgeous, even in his sleep pants and t-shirt, grouchy look on his face.

"Yes," Brandon says to Alex, answering the implied question. "You can come hang out with me."

"Thank you," Alex says, because he can actually be polite when he's not being a competitive ass.

By the time Alex settles onto the other side of Brandon's bed - the occasional room with a king bed is one of the advantages to the no roommates thing - most of the grumpiness has fallen off his face.

"I won't bother you," Alex says when he looks up to find Brandon watching him.

"You're not bothering me," Brandon says. He sits down on the other side of the bed and replies to texts while the movie plays and Alex does whatever it is he's doing on his iPad.

"Anna sent me a video of Vanya," Alex says a while later. "Do you want to see?"

"Yes," Brandon says, and they both scoot closer to the center of the bed so they can watch Vanya laughing and chewing on toys.

Anna says something in Russian, and holds Vanya's hand to wave at the camera.

"What did she say?" Brandon asks.

"Wave to Uncle Sasha," Alex translates.

Brandon nudges him with an elbow. "He's a cute kid."

Alex nods. "Yeah," he says, and he looks suddenly sad enough that Brandon nudges him again, without the sharpness this time.

"Alex, what?"

Alex presses his lips together and shakes his head. "It's good to have him around," is all he'll say about it.

He doesn't move away, though, and when Brandon prods at him, he pulls up a whole folder of pictures and videos of Vanya that he takes Brandon through one at a time.

Brandon splits his attention between looking at the pictures and looking at Alex looking at the pictures.

*

"Come shopping with me," Brandon says to Alex after morning skate in New York.

"Shopping," Alex repeats.

"Shopping," Brandon says. "I know a great place. Come on, you know it'll be fun."

Alex throws a look at him that suggests it will not be fun, but then he cracks into a smile and agrees to go.

They're ten minutes into browsing shirts and sweaters and scarves when someone says, "Hi, Prusty."

Brandon looks up from the rack he's browsing, and smiles at Marc. His smile widens into a grin when he sees the baby on Marc's shoulder. "Staalsy." They exchange a one-armed hug.

"This is Anna," Marc says. "Anna, this is Prusty." Marc points at Brandon, trying to get Anna's attention. He gives up after a second and says, "She's a little shy about new people."

"She's cute," Brandon says. "Must take after Lindsay."

Marc shakes his head and laughs. "Yeah, but she says the stubbornness is all my side of the family."

"I like this," Alex says, coming around a rack. "You should try it on." He stops when he sees Marc.

"Alex, Marc and Anna. Marc and Anna, Alex." Brandon waves between them, and Marc and Alex shake hands.

"Hello, Anna," Alex says to her. "My sister is also named Anna."

Anna looks at him when he says her name, but then buries her face against Marc's shoulder.

"Don't take it personally," Marc says. "She's shy about strangers. My mom says it's probably just a phase."

"My nephew Ivan is just a little bit younger than her," Alex says. "He is not shy about strangers yet, unless there are a lot of them."

"She used to be more like that," Marc says. "But now she just wants Mom and Dad." The smile and the way he gently cups the back of Anna's head show that he doesn't really mind. He smiles at the baby, a completely besotted look Brandon recognizes from the way Alex looks at Vanya, and then turns a lighter smile on Brandon and Alex. "I'll let you get back to your shopping. We were just in the neighborhood, and I saw you and thought I'd say hi."

"Yeah, good to see you, man," Brandon says, and he exchanges another one-armed hug with Marc. "And good to meet you," he says to Anna. He grins at Marc. "We're going to crush you tonight."

"You can try," Marc says. "Nice to meet you, Alex."

"You too," Alex says.

After Marc walks away, Brandon takes the sweater from Alex and shakes it out. It is a nice sweater, and he smiles at Alex for finding it.

"This would look good on you," Brandon says. "Maybe in a different color. Show me where you found it."

His phone buzzes while he follows Alex to the rack, but he ignores it for the time being.

It's only later, when they're trying things on and he's done before Alex, that he checks his phone and finds he has a text from Brian: _Heard you're letting Alex pick out your clothes._

Brandon sends back, _Marc has a big mouth._

"I think this one looks good," Alex says as he comes out of the dressing room.

Brandon looks up from his phone and has to catch his breath. "Yeah," he says after a second. "You should definitely get that one."

Alex smiles at him, small and pleased.

In the end, Alex buys two sweaters, a shirt, and a scarf Brandon loops around his neck to show Alex how good it will look on him. Brandon walks out of the place empty-handed, and they stroll down the street toward a coffee shop.

"You didn't even get anything," Alex says.

"I couldn't find anything that looked as good on me as the green sweater looked on you," Brandon says. He pulls open the coffee shop door and revels in getting that small, pleased smile out of Alex again.

*

 _Movie?_ Brandon texts Alex. _I'll even let you pick._

Brandon's phone buzzes a minute later with a FaceTime request from Alex.

"I'm busy," Alex says, and then he stretches the phone away from him so Brandon can see Vanya on his shoulder. "My parents are at the movies and Anna went shopping."

This time, the small picture of his own face in the corner shows Brandon just how much of what he's feeling makes it onto his face.

"Can I come over?"

Alex blinks at him. "You want to babysit instead of going to the movies?"

"Sure," Brandon says with a shrug instead of saying that what he wants to do is spend time with Alex.

"Uh, yeah, I guess," Alex says. He tips his head to look at the baby. "Is that okay, Vanya?"

Vanya's only response is to babble a little and then chew on the collar of Alex's shirt.

"Is that Russian baby for yes?" Brandon asks.

Alex laughs. "Yeah, sure," he says. "Come over."

Brandon grins at him and hangs up.

Alex answers the door with Vanyushka still on his shoulder, and Brandon reaches for the baby to keep himself from reaching for Alex. It's early for that. They're barely dating. Alex might not even know they're dating.

"Hello, Vanyushka. You're bigger every time your Uncle Sasha shows me a picture of you."

Alex stares at him, probably for the use of Sasha.

"I pay attention," Brandon says. "So, what are we doing with this little angel here?"

"You won't think he's an angel when he needs a diaper change," Alex says.

"Oh," Brandon says, hefting Vanya up a little. "Have you been a stinky baby for Uncle Sasha?" He smiles at the baby, getting a smile back. "Yeah? I'll bet Uncle Sasha thinks you're the greatest anyway." He looks up at Alex, and smiles. "Yeah, he does."

Alex smiles at Brandon, and more tenderly at Vanyushka. "Come on. All his toys are on the living room floor."

"All" might have been an exaggeration, but there is a staggeringly large number of infant toys spread out around a quilt laid out on the floor.

Brandon and Alex lie down on the floor with Vanya and take turns passing him toys and watching him shake them, hit them on the ground, or put them in his mouth. It should not be as fascinating and enjoyable as it is, but that's the magic of babies, Brandon guesses. And the magic of love, for the way Alex looks at Vanyushka and the way Brandon looks at Alex.

Vanya cries later, and Alex stands, swooping the baby up with him. "He's hungry," he explains, and Brandon follows him to the kitchen.

Alex rocks Vanya, calming him a little, while he shows Brandon how to heat up a bottle, how to test it against his wrist to make sure it's not too hot.

"Do you want to feed him?" Alex asks.

Brandon does, and he also isn't sure he can take watching Alex do it, so he says yes and lets Alex push him down into one of the living room chairs.

"Hold him carefully," Alex says, "like that." He gets the baby and Brandon's arm at the right angle, and then he gives Brandon the bottle. He keeps one hand over Brandon's for a minute, until he apparently decides Brandon is doing okay and isn't going to kill Vanya. Then he sits down in a chair across from Brandon and watches. His eyes stay mostly on Vanyushka, but they stray up to Brandon's face a few times, which Brandon knows because he's doing the same thing, looking from Alex to the baby and back again.

Alex takes Vanya after the bottle is empty, and burps him over his shoulder, throws the burp cloth in a hamper, and sits down with Vanya in his arms.

Brandon aches to have the baby back, or to have Alex, but he watches them instead, all three of them silent as Vanyushka's eyelids flicker before he falls right into sleep.

*

They have a team dinner out in Chicago, everyone walking a few blocks from the hotel and crowding into half a restaurant. Brandon sits down next to P.K. and across from Alex and Gally.

It's a good night, lots of laughter and chirping, and the guys with kids wandering outside to call home and say goodnight.

Brandon kicks at Alex under the table. "You going to call and say goodnight?"

"No," Alex says. "Anna sent me a picture, though." He pulls it up and holds his phone out so Brandon can see it, Vanyushka in a onesie, sleepy-eyed and soft looking in his crib.

"That is one cute kid," P.K. says. "Not quite as cute as my nephews, but cute."

"Fuck you," Alex says. "He's way cuter than your nephews."

"Nope," P.K. says, and he gets out his phone. "Not even close."

Eventually, their escalating war of nephew photos and the commotion of Brandon and Gally's mixture of laughter and vehement refusals to get involved draws attention from the rest of the guys.

"What's going on down there?" Max calls down the table.

"Baby fever," Pricey says from the other side of P.K.

That's met with a mix of laughter, knowing looks, and confusion.

"So when are you going to have one of your own?" Lars asks P.K.

"Oh, it'll happen," P.K. says with utterly unconcerned confidence. "Just a matter of time."

There's a wave of laughter, which P.K. grins his way through. "Prusty knows what I mean, right?" He elbows Brandon.

"Someday, maybe," Brandon says, and he glances over at Alex with a smile. "Right now, I'm enjoying being able to give Chucky's nephew back."

"So you're not all completely baby crazy," Lars says. "What about you, Chucky?"

Alex shakes his head. "Gally's more likely to have them soon."

Attention shifts quickly and completely enough to Gally that Brandon doesn't think anyone notices how sad Alex's eyes are.

But P.K. notices something, maybe just Brandon noticing Alex, because when they leave, he goads everything else into heading down the block and leaving enough space that Brandon and Alex can walk back alone.

Everyone else is about a block ahead of them when Alex says, "I'm gay."

Brandon's been wondering - and hoping - so that part isn't as much of a surprise. What is a surprise is the way Alex says it, matter-of-fact, no disclaimers, no rush to make sure Brandon won't tell anyone.

Brandon bumps his shoulder against Alex's. "I've been trying to date you."

Alex stops in the middle of the sidewalk and looks at Brandon, who looks back, nervous but steady, while Alex processes that.

Alex's mouth shifts from an O of surprise to a slight smile before he starts walking again. "You should keep doing that."

"Yeah?" Brandon says, smile spreading across his face and getting wider when Alex nods. "All right. I will." He puts his arm around Alex's shoulders, something that feels like dating but won't look like it to anyone else.

*

 _Movie?_ Brandon texts Alex. _If you're not babysitting again._

 _Anna and Peter took Vanya to Miami for the week,_ Alex sends back. _Do I still get to pick the movie?_

Brandon grins, and then decides not to commit the rest of it to text and sends Alex a FaceTime request.

"I'm trying to get into your pants," Brandon says with a smirk when Alex accepts the request, "so, yes, you can pick the movie."

Alex laughs. "You don't have to bribe me into that."

Brandon shrugs. "Maybe I just want to be nice to you. You ever think of that?"

Alex's smile rounds out his cheeks, and he hmms while he looks up movie times and picks one. "I'll meet you there?"

"What kind of date do you think I am?" Brandon asks, and then quickly adds, "Don't answer that. I'll pick you up." He hangs up on Alex's laughing face, as much as he likes seeing it, in favor of changing his clothes before he has to leave the house.

Alex comes out of the house to meet him before Brandon can even get halfway up the walk.

"What?" Alex asks when Brandon shakes his head.

"I'm picking you up," Brandon says. "I can come meet you at the door."

"This way you don't have to," Alex says. "You can't kiss me in front of the house anyway." He keeps that last part quiet and only says it when he's close enough for Brandon to hear it.

Brandon wraps his arms around Alex for a hug. "Too bad about that."

"Yeah," Alex says, returning his hug. "Too bad." He pulls away from Brandon slowly, and walks close to him the rest of the way to the car.

In the car, Brandon reaches over and tweaks Alex's lapel. "Nice coat, Chucky."

Alex looks at him suspiciously, and Brandon chuckles.

"I mean it. It looks good on you."

"Thank you," Alex says after a moment. "You look very nice too."

"Thanks," Brandon says with a grin.

Brandon buys their tickets when they get to the theater, over Alex's protests.

"Alex," Brandon says, crowding into his space a little and keeping his voice low, "this is a date. I invited you. I'll pay."

Alex meets his eyes, startled like he didn't realize how serious Brandon was about this. "Okay," he says with a nod. Then he grins at Brandon, mischievous and goading. "I want popcorn too."

Brandon reels him in with a casual arm around his shoulders. "Then let's get you some popcorn." He buys Alex a soda too, and steals handfuls of popcorn and sips of soda while they watch the movie.

"This was a very bad date," Alex says seriously when Brandon pulls up in front of his house. There's an amused twitch to his lips that makes Brandon settle back in his seat.

"How was this a bad date? I let you pick the movie. I bought you popcorn."

"And then you ate all of it," Alex says, clearly struggling not to laugh.

"And that makes it a bad date?"

"No," Alex says. "It's a bad date because we couldn't even hold hands at the movies, and you can't kiss me goodbye now."

It's not that Brandon thought it actually was a bad date, but he likes that Alex's main complaint is not getting to make out with him. "I could come in and kiss you inside," he suggests.

Alex shakes his head, looking as regretful about it as Brandon feels. "My parents are home."

Brandon laughs, and shakes his head at Alex's annoyed look. "This is like high school," he says with a grin. "I'll walk you to the door anyway, and you can come over to my place on Friday night. I'll make you dinner and kiss you then."

"Okay," Alex says, and he gets out of the car with one of those soft, pleased smiles on his face.

Brandon walks him up to the door, and they pause there, looking at each other for a moment before Brandon says, "This really is like high school," and then tugs Alex in for a tight hug.

"Thank you," Alex says when they have to stop hugging because it's already gone on a little too long for public view. "I had a good time even if I didn't get to kiss you."

"Me too," Brandon says. "I'll see you on Friday."

"You'll see me tomorrow," Alex calls after him. "We have a game."

"Yeah," Brandon calls back, "but I won't enjoy seeing you until Friday." Alex's laugh follows him into his car.

*

Alex shows up on Friday in the dark green sweater Brandon encouraged him to buy in New York.

Brandon rests his arms on Alex's shoulders after Alex hangs up his coat. "Mmm. I don't know if I want to look at you in that sweater or peel it off you."

Alex tilts his chin up and smiles. "You can do both."

"I might have to." Brandon reels Alex in so he can kiss him. He keeps it light, exploratory. He wants all kinds of other kisses with Alex too, but this one's the first kiss, and he wants it to be gentle.

Alex is smiling when Brandon stops kissing him. "You should kiss me a lot."

"I plan to." Brandon smacks a quick kiss on Alex's lips. "Right now I'm going to feed you and look at you in that sweater."

"I'm going to look at your beard," Alex says, putting one hand on Brandon's cheek. "It looks very good on you."

Brandon turns his head to kiss Alex's palm. "We'll see if you like it as much when it's leaving beard burn all over you." He lets go of Alex and heads for the kitchen.

"I think I'll still like it," Alex says when he follows Brandon a second later.

Brandon raises his eyebrows at Alex, waiting to see if he'll blush - he doesn't, just meets Brandon's eyes evenly - and then grins at him and gets plates out of the cabinet.

He didn't try for anything fancy with dinner, just the same kind of basic chicken, pasta, vegetable they're always eating, but he opens a bottle of wine to go with it and they sit at the table to eat, legs stretched out together under it. Dinner isn't that different from other times they've hung out either, except that Brandon lets himself flirt a little more and doesn't try to hide the way he's looking at Alex.

Alex helps clean up after dinner, and that makes it easy for Brandon to crowd close to his back and trap him against the sink. He nuzzles into Alex's neck, rubbing his beard against the thin skin there.

Alex tips his head to give Brandon better access and then turns around in the circle of Brandon's arms. He cups Brandon's jaw in one damp hand and leans in to kiss him, sweet and hot all at once. Alex smiles when he pulls away, the kind of look Brandon wants to keep on his face forever.

"You should take me to bed," Alex says.

"Mmm," Brandon says. "Should I?" He watches Alex's face for any sense of hesitation or uncertainty.

"Yes," Alex says firmly. "You said you would peel my sweater off me and give me beard burn."

"I did say that, didn't I?" Brandon kisses Alex lightly and keeps one arm around his shoulders. "Come to bed, Alex."

Alex says, "Yes," again, and goes where Brandon leads him, into the bedroom where Brandon lets go of him to turn on the lamp by the side of the bed.

Alex in the soft light of his bedroom is so beautiful Brandon's chest hurts, and he goes over to put his arms around Alex to try to soothe it.

Alex hugs him back, nuzzles against his cheek. "We don't have to do this," he says, and Brandon almost laughs at Alex being careful with him.

"I want to," Brandon says, pulling back to brush his lips over the curve of Alex's cheek. "Let me get you out of this." He tugs at Alex's sweater, and Alex moves with him, helping Brandon get his sweater off, and then the t-shirt under it.

Brandon has seen all of Alex bare before, but he likes that he gets to be the one to make him that way, to peel him out of his clothes one piece at a time. He unbuttons Alex's jeans next, and pushes his underwear down with them.

Alex takes a step to the side, out of his clothes, and toes off his socks as he goes, and then he's all bare skin over strong muscle, hard cock rising up against his belly, looking perfectly at home in the middle of Brandon's bedroom.

"Are you going to get naked too?" Alex asks it like it's Brandon's choice, like he'll be okay with it either way.

"Yes," Brandon says after half a second to think about it. He strips faster than he stripped Alex, and with less care, wanting to be naked with Alex more than he wants to put on a show. Alex is already here, already calm and certain.

Alex steps toward him when he's naked, putting one hand on Brandon's hip and the other flat over his chest.

Brandon leans in and kisses him, wrapping his arms around Alex to pull him even closer, getting him close enough to feel Alex's skin against his. He kisses Alex deeper, Alex's hand sliding around his body so Alex can get as close as possible, chests and cocks and thighs pressed together.

"You should get in my bed now," Brandon says.

Alex grins at him. "Okay." He turns to go over to the bed, and Brandon bites his lip against how good his ass looks as he walks away.

Alex pushes the blankets aside and stretches out on Brandon's sheets. He looks good there, soft and comfortable, waiting for Brandon to join him.

"You're beautiful," Brandon tells him, and he loves the smile it puts on Alex's face.

"So are you." Alex reaches for him as Brandon joins him on the bed, pulling him down on top of him like that's not where Brandon was going anyway.

Brandon kisses him, then rubs his chin against Alex's. "Still want the beard burn?"

"Yes." Alex smiles at him. "Yes, all of it."

Brandon has to kiss him again, and then he sets to giving Alex beard burn, using his mouth and cheeks and chin to explore Alex's body, collarbone, chest, scrape of his beard over Alex's nipples, lower to the cut of his hips, the insides of his thighs. By the time he gets there, Alex is tense and cursing above him, cock wet at the tip.

Brandon gives up on the rest of it - he'll have time for it again later - and turns his focus to Alex's cock. He licks it once, and then takes it into his mouth to the sound of Alex gasping out his name.

Brandon smiles as much as he can around the thickness of Alex's cock, the salty taste of it on his tongue, and goes down as far as he can. It's not quite far enough to rub his face against any other part of Alex while he sucks, but it's far enough to make Alex gasp and groan, so responsive to what Brandon is doing to him.

Alex starts out polite enough, but ends up with his hands in Brandon's hair, tugging just shy of too much. It's not like Brandon has a problem with it being a little rough, so he goes with it, lets Alex guide the pace of the blowjob until he's gasping out a warning, holding Brandon down on his cock when Brandon doesn't move away, coming hard into Brandon's mouth.

Brandon pulls off, swallowing as much as he can, and moves up the bed to look down at Alex, chest heaving and cock softening. He's still beautiful, maybe the most beautiful thing Brandon has ever seen when he smiles up at Brandon soft and sated.

"Come here," Alex demands, and he tugs Brandon down to kiss him.

"Good?" Brandon asks.

 

"Don't try to make me say nice things about you," Alex says. There's a sparkle around his eyes that says he doesn't mean the teasing. "It's your turn now."

Brandon goes with Alex's push easily, folding his arms under his head so he can watch while Alex scatters kisses across his chest on his way down. Alex doesn't spend the time on it that Brandon did, which is just as well because Brandon is so hard he's not sure he could stand that.

Alex sucks him down like he knows what he's doing. Not quite an expert, no fancy tricks, but sure and steady, solid suction on Brandon's cock.

Brandon's composure goes to shit. He brings his arms down, one hand curving around the back of Alex's head and the other across his own chest, holding himself together as much as he can.

Brandon almost wishes he could last longer, but only almost, because it feels so amazingly good when Alex sucks him all the way through and swallows around him when he comes.

"Alex," Brandon gasps afterward, tugging Alex up to lie next to him and not saying anything about the well-deserved smugness on Alex's face.

Alex just keeps looking smug while Brandon catches his breath, and doesn't stop even when Brandon kisses him.

"You've done that before," Brandon says.

"Are you jealous?"

Brandon considers that for a moment. "No," he says. "Just as long as you're not doing it with anyone else while we're dating."

"Of course not," Alex says, and he tucks himself comfortably into Brandon's side.

Brandon doesn't say anything else for a while, content to lie there in silence with Alex, touching every once in a while, exchanging the odd kiss. Eventually, though, he asks, "Are you staying the night?"

"No," Alex says. "I should go home." He presses a kiss to Brandon's neck. "But I don't have to go yet."

"All right," Brandon says. He tightens the arm he has around Alex. "How does this compare to our last date?"

Alex grins at him. "Much better. Way more kissing."

Brandon grins back. "Good." He kisses Alex. "You're planning the next one."

*

 _I'm babysitting,_ Alex texts a few days later. _Want to come over?_

Brandon sends, _Yes_ , and drives over to Alex's.

"Is this your idea of a date?" Brandon asks when Alex opens the door.

"No," Alex says. "We're going on a date on Saturday. This is just to hang out."

Brandon catches him close for a deep kiss. "Okay."

Alex is smiling when they part. He takes Brandon's hand, surprisingly shy about it, and walks him to the living room where Vanya is lying on a blanket chewing on a soft block.

Brandon lifts Alex's hand to his mouth and brushes a kiss over it before he lets go and sits down next to the baby. "What's that you've got there?"

Vanya drools a little more on the block and then gives Brandon a sunny smile.

"Oh, yeah," Brandon says. "You're cute all right. That's going to get you into a lot of trouble. And out of it too." He scoops Vanyushka up and plants a kiss on his cheek. "Just like your Uncle Sasha." He looks up to grin at Alex, still standing and looking down on Brandon and the baby.

Alex smiles at him, soft and fond, and sits down half next to and half behind Brandon, his chest against Brandon's back. "Just like you, too." Alex rests his chin on Brandon's shoulder, Brandon slouching a little to make it easier for him. "With your very pretty face." He presses a kiss to Brandon's cheek.

Brandon smiles, turning to give the smile to Alex before he turns it on Vanya again. "This is your first lesson," he says. "We are three very good looking men."

Alex laughs, a soft rumble at Brandon's back.

Vanya laughs too, and then waves his hands around, one of them still clutching the block.

Brandon bends and pretends to eat Vanya's fingers, making him squeal with delight and drop the block.

After Brandon puts Vanya down to grab at toys on the floor, he leans against Alex and says, "Explain the name thing to me."

"What name thing?"

"Ivan, Vanya, Vanyushka. Is it just nicknames like Chucky and Prusty?"

"They are affectionate," Alex says. "Vanya is for friends or people you are close to. Vanyushka is," Alex hesitates. "We won't keep calling him that for much longer, once he's not a baby, except maybe Anna and my mom. It is a very," he pauses again, "tender name. Only for very close family. Or for, uh, lovers. It is not exactly the same as our nicknames."

Brandon says, "Hmm," and then he says, "Chucky," and wraps everything he feels about Alex, all that love and desire and affection, around it.

Alex shudders, and then he says, "Don't. That needs to be separate."

Brandon turns his head to look at Alex, seeing as well as feeling the tension in him. "Okay," he agrees. He presses a soft kiss to Alex's lips. "So," he says when Alex doesn't keep talking after that.

"So what?"

"So Alex, Sasha," Brandon prompts him.

Alex presses his lips together. Brandon waits him out until Alex relents and says, "Sashenka," reluctantly. "There are others, but for me, Sashenka."

Brandon hmms, and Alex relaxes little by little as Brandon doesn't repeat it.

Brandon stays until after Alex's family gets home, so he doesn't get to kiss Alex goodbye. Alex walks him to the door anyway, and hugs him tightly in the entryway. "I will pick you up on Saturday."

Brandon keeps his arms around Alex, intent on hugging him as long as Alex will let him. "What are we doing?"

"It's a surprise," Alex says. "But I will pick you up at six."

"A surprise," Brandon says, corners of his mouth twitching up into a smile. "How do I know what to wear?"

Alex shrugs. "Wear whatever you want to wear."

"Very helpful," Brandon says dryly. "What are you going to wear?"

"Jeans," Alex says, "and a shirt that will make you look at me like you did when I wore the green sweater."

Brandon is really sorry he didn't leave before Alex's family got home, when he could kiss Alex goodbye.

*

Brandon follows Alex's lead and wears jeans and a long-sleeve henley he expects to make Alex look at him the way he looked at Alex in the green sweater.

He's not disappointed.

Alex gives him a hungry, appreciative once-over when Brandon opens the door, and then pushes him in, kicks the door shut, and kisses him. Brandon kisses back, just as hungry for Alex as Alex is for him.

They make out for a few long minutes, trading control of the kiss, Brandon getting the buttons on Alex's coat undone enough to slide his arms around Alex's back with just his shirt between them.

"We could have our date here," Brandon says.

"No." Alex pulls away a little, but not all the way out of Brandon's arms. "I made plans." He gives Brandon a mischievous smile. "But I made sure we have time to make out for a little bit before we leave."

Brandon laughs delightedly and pulls Alex to him for another kiss. "How much time?"

"Not enough to fuck," Alex says. He looks sorry about that, and he kisses Brandon slick and dirty. "But we can after."

Brandon grins against Alex's cheek. "Something to look forward to." He pulls away from Alex and tugs his shirt back into place. "Are you going to tell me where we're going before that?"

"No," Alex says cheerfully.

Brandon pulls on his coat. "This better be good."

Alex brushes a kiss across his lips before they leave the apartment. "You will like it."

They go to dinner first, and Brandon resists the urge to play footsie with Alex under the table. He doesn't resist the urge to flirt at every possible opportunity, though, which Alex seems to appreciate going by the way he flirts back.

When they leave the restaurant, Alex directs him down the street, away from where he parked.

"When are you going to tell me what else we're doing?" Brandon asks.

"When we get there," Alex says. "It's not far."

They turn a corner to see a few people standing around under a lit-up marquee, and Alex bumps his shoulder against Brandon's. "This is where we're going."

Brandon looks at Alex, the hint of a smile on his face, and looks up at the marquee. "You got us fight tickets?"

"Yes." Alex's smile turns positively smug. "I thought you would like it."

"I do." Brandon follows Alex into the theater in something of a daze. Alex got them _fight tickets_. They still won't be able to hold hands, but it's something they both like and something they'll be able to talk about later, with each other and with other people.

"We're in the VIP section upstairs," Alex says once they're inside the theater. "It's supposed to also have a good view, and we probably won't get bothered up there. I thought we might attract more attention on the floor."

"You're probably right," Brandon says. It's Montreal and they're at a fight; someone is going to ask for a picture no matter where they are, but being a separate section of the place will probably cut down on it.

They leave their coats at coat check and head up to the VIP section. It has its own bar, and they head there first for drinks before they settle in at a table near the edge of the balcony.

A couple of people ask them for photos, and Brandon makes Alex crowd in with him around the table, backs toward the floor, for a selfie he tweets with the caption, _Fight night with @agally94. Great date. He even paid for dinner._ He shows it to Alex first, and gets his half-smiling approval. It's the kind of thing they can get away with without anyone realizing it actually is a date.

Since it is actually a date, Brandon puts his phone away after that. Alex is a good person to watch fights with. He has enough knowledge to have a good discussion about what's going on, and his eyes are bright when he leans across the table to chirp Brandon about his fighting abilities.

Brandon smiles easily at him and says, "I'm better than you."

There's a calculated smirk on Alex's face that means he knows what he's doing when he says, "You could teach me some things."

Brandon swears. "Jesus, Alex."

Alex sits back in his chair with a smug grin.

Brandon leans toward him. "I'm going to get you back for that one," he says. He takes a sip of his drink, licking his lips when he catches Alex looking at them. "Or maybe I'll just make a lesson plan." He's pretty sure he strikes the right tone with that, dirty enough for Alex to get it, innocent enough not to sound strange if he's overheard. It's enough to make Alex's eyes go dark, and Brandon sits back in his chair with a smug smile of his own.

They don't flirt as much as the evening goes on, and by the time they reach the title bout, they're both leaning forward in their chairs, watching intently.

There's a collective exhale from the whole place when the last bout ends, a change in the noise of the crowd as people start to leave.

Alex and Brandon join the throng crowding toward the coat check. It takes a few minutes, and in the crowd, the two of them pressing close together from shoulder to hip doesn't draw attention. Brandon is fully aware of Alex all along his side, even if no one else is paying attention to them.

They get their coats and head outside into the cool night air. Alex is wound up from the fight, turning to shadowbox with Brandon and in obvious need of an outlet for his energy. Not that Brandon's blood isn't pumping just as hard, but he's older; he knows how to wait.

When Alex turns the car down Brandon's street, Brandon says, "You're coming in," and doesn't leave room for it to be a question.

"Yes," Alex says, and he crowds close to Brandon on the way up to his apartment.

Brandon unlocks the door, and they fall through it, Alex staying close and Brandon turning to grab at him. They crash into each other, Brandon kicking the door shut behind them and shoving Alex up against it. He fumbles at the lock while he licks into Alex's mouth, clicks it shut just as Alex pushes back against him, biting at his mouth and shoving him into the wall.

They careen off the walls in the entryway, fighting to get control, to get closer, to get their coats off. Their coats and Brandon's toque end up on the floor. The corner of a picture frame digs into Brandon's back when Alex shoves him against the wall. Brandon ignores it while Alex kisses him, and then he shoves at Alex, as much to get away from the picture frame as to take his turn.

They make it as far as the couch. Alex hooks his ankle around Brandon's and trips him down onto it, following him down with a barely controlled fall. Brandon grabs onto him, greedy for touch, for Alex's mouth on his, for friction on his cock.

They're both hard, and Brandon grasps at Alex's thigh, encouraging him to settle just right over him.

Alex groans when they get lined up right, and the way he moves on top of Brandon punches the air right out of his lungs. When he gets it back, he groans out Alex's name and grabs handfuls of his ass to help him keep moving like that.

Alex loses any of the cockiness he had before, his face going slack with pleasure. Brandon watches his eyes close and his mouth fall open, and he has to taste that. He leans up to get at Alex's mouth, not wanting to move his hands.

Alex moans into the kiss, and then takes it over, cups the back of Brandon's head and his jaw with his hands and licks deep into Brandon's mouth, just as hungry and greedy for it as Brandon feels.

They move against each other in a harsh quest for friction that's not as much of a fight as it could be since they're working together for it.

As much as Brandon doesn't want to let go of Alex's ass, he does it to push him back and get at his pants. They fumble together to get both of their pants and underwear pushed halfway down their thighs, Alex's shirt off and Brandon's pushed up, and then Brandon gets his hands right back on the curves of Alex's ass.

"Fuck," Alex says. His mouth is red and wet, and Brandon takes one hand off of Alex's ass to put it on the back of his head and pull him down to bite at his mouth while they rut against each other.

Alex comes first, head thrown back and low moan coming out of his mouth. He keeps moving after, but not long enough for Brandon to come.

"Fuck, Alex," Brandon says, frustrated at how close he was.

"Sorry, sorry," Alex says. "I'll-" He sits up and wraps his hand tight around Brandon's cock, strokes him fast and hard.

Brandon comes with a choked off noise, a sudden release of tension that feels like it's coming all the way from his toes to the top of his head. He lets himself sink into the couch, smiling languidly up at Alex still above him.

Alex grins down at him, absurdly pleased with himself. "You're a mess."

Brandon looks down at the come splattered across his stomach and cock. "Mmhmm." He reaches for Alex, grabbing onto whatever skin he can. "Very debauched." His mouth stretches into a wider smile at Alex's snort. "I'm older. Shouldn't I be debauching you?"

"You can next time." Alex bends over to kiss him. "It's your turn to plan a date."

"Mmm." Brandon pulls Alex down, smearing the mess of their come on him too. "I don't know if I can do better than this one."

Alex gives him that incredibly smug look again. Brandon should probably want to do something to knock it off his face, but he's so in love with Alex that Alex being happy just makes him happy.

"It'll be a good date as long as we end up here," Alex says after a moment.

Brandon kisses him deep and soft. "I can guarantee that." He runs his hands up and down the warmth of Alex's bare back. "Want to stay?"

Alex shakes his head. "I have to go home. But not yet." He settles in over Brandon and they make out slowly for a while before Alex has to leave.

*

They take turns planning dates, squeezing them in on non-game days and sometimes managing to go out on the road. Those are the dates when they walk back to their rooms and don't linger in the hallway longer than it takes to hug. The ones at home invariably end with Alex in Brandon's bed or on his couch.

At the rink, they're careful to be friendly but no more. Brandon remembers to call Alex "Chucky" and Alex tempers his smiles so the depth of what they are to each other doesn't show on his face.

They don't spend all their time together; Alex still spends afternoons locked in video game battles with Gally, and Brandon still goes out to dinner with P.K. and whoever else he rounds up for them to hang out with.

Tonight it's Brandon and P.K, Pricey, and Weaver, with Brandon and Carey providing an audience for P.K. and Mike's laughing storytelling and chirping. It's an easy, freewheeling dinner, and they're all checking their phones occasionally ("I have to know if I get a better offer," P.K. said), so Brandon doesn't hesitate to open the text from Alex.

_I want to tell Gally and my family._

Brandon's been waiting for them to have some variation on a coming out conversation. Alex is too close to his family to keep them a secret for very long. It means Brandon's prepared, and he doesn't waste any time sending back, _If I can tell Brian and my family._ Then, a second later, after he looks up and P.K. catches his eye, he also sends, _P.K. and Manny know._

Alex sends a string of question marks, and then, _Why did you tell them?_

"Hey," Brandon says to the guys, "I'll be back." He waves his phone at them in explanation, shrugs on his coat, and goes outside to call Alex. "I didn't tell them," he says when Alex picks up. "They figured it out."

"How? I thought we were being careful."

It's probably good Alex can't see him; admitting this is making Brandon blush. "They figured it out before we were even dating."

"What?" Alex's confusion is probably better than other possible outcomes for this part of the conversation.

For all that Brandon's dating a guy who lives with his family who doesn't know about them, it turns out there's nothing to make him feel like he's stuck in awkward teenage dating years like standing outside a restaurant on a cold Montreal night confessing, "I really like you," into his cell phone. "It was pretty obvious sometimes."

"Oh," Alex says. The single syllable isn't enough for Brandon to read Alex's tone, but he sounds pleased when he follows it up with, "I really like you too."

And now Brandon is standing outside a restaurant on a cold Montreal night grinning like an idiot. "Well good."

"Yeah." There's a moment where they're silent, and Brandon likes to think Alex is grinning just as much as he is. Then Alex says, "I don't want to tell all the guys."

"God, no," Brandon says. That way lies a lot of chirping and someone, no matter how careful they are, saying something to the wrong person and a lot of publicity Brandon doesn't want. Someday, maybe, if this lasts the way he wants it to and neither one of them gets traded, but not now.

"Okay," Alex says. "Well, I'm going to tell Gally."

"I'm going to tell Brian," Brandon says. He's grinning again, because whatever else telling people means to Alex, it at least means they're solidly in a relationship. "Now that we have that settled, can we talk about anything else later? I'm outside a restaurant freezing my ass off."

"Too bad," Alex says, "I like your ass."

Brandon bursts into laughter. He loves Alex's deadpan jokes.

"Send me a selfie before you go inside," Alex says.

"A selfie?" Brandon asks.

Alex says, "Yeah, I want to see your face," and hangs up on him.

The lighting outside isn't the best, but Brandon manages a picture that could charitably be called artsy, half his face in shadow, smiling and looking at the camera on his phone the way he would be smiling and looking at Alex if he were there.

*

Brandon can be a considerate friend when he wants to be, so he doesn't call Brian when he gets home from dinner and Brian is probably already asleep but waits until he's on his way to the rink the next day.

They bullshit for a while, a mix of chirping and exchanging stories, before Brian asks, "You still in love with that kid?"

"We're dating," Brandon says. "And please don't call him a kid."

"He's like eight years younger than us."

Brandon almost says, "Ten," but thinks better of it and says, "He's the guy I'm dating. Calling him a kid makes me sound like a dirty old man."

"Are you saying you're not a dirty old man?" Brian laughs as he says it, and then stops laughing and says, "Wait, don't answer that. I don't need to know about your sex life."

"I don't need to know about yours either," Brandon says, "but that never stops you from telling me about it."

"Did I ever tell you about that time Lauren bought handcuffs?"

Brandon laughs and says, "Stop, stop right there."

Brian laughs with him too. "So things are good with Alex?"

"Yeah," Brandon says. "Yeah, they're really good."

"Good," Brian says, "and, hey, if you ever want to borrow some handcuffs."

Brandon's still laughing when he pulls into the parking lot and hangs up on Brian.

*

Alex knocks on Brandon's door the first night they're on the road after they agree to tell people. That's got to be one advantage of Gally knowing.

Alex walks right past Brandon when he opens the door and says, "I should have never told Gally."

Brandon closes the door and stops smiling. Maybe Gally knowing wasn't a good idea. "Why not?"

Alex throws himself down on Brandon's bed. "Because he is the worst at chirping."

Brandon's heartbeat returns to normal, and he draws in a deep breath. "Oh yeah?" He follows Alex over to the bed now that he's not stuck in place with worry.

"Yeah." Alex tips his head up when Brandon crouches over him, knees outside Alex's hips, hands above his shoulders.

Brandon bends down to meet him and gives him the warm hello kiss he would have given him at the door if Alex hadn't blown right past him.

Alex's hands end up on Brandon, one on the back of his neck and one at his hip, but instead of following through on that, Alex keeps up the conversation when the kiss ends. "I would tell you what he said, but it is too bad. You would lose all respect for him."

Brandon chuckles and kisses Alex's neck. "Would I?"

"Yes." Alex arches his head back as Brandon presses kisses all along the line of his neck. "I can't believe no one has ever taught him how to chirp better."

Brandon laughs against Alex's neck, and then lifts his head. "Do you want to keep complaining about Gally's chirping, or do you want a blowjob?"

Alex looks at him for a minute without answering, and then his face creases into a smile. "Blowjob," he says.

"Right answer." Brandon kisses him, long and deep, and then goes back to kissing his neck because he was having fun with that. It's still fun, and he scrapes his chin along Alex's neck because he likes the way it makes Alex gasp and he really likes the way it leaves a red patch of beard burn on his skin.

Brandon skips from there all the way down to the waistband of Alex's pajama pants. Not that he doesn't appreciate Alex's chest, but he'd rather get to Alex's cock. Alex lifts his hips to help, and Brandon gets his pants down enough to get his cock out.

Alex isn't all the way hard yet. Brandon gets his mouth on him anyway, mouths at his foreskin, tucks his tongue into it to tease at the head of his cock.

Alex gets loud when Brandon does that, and Brandon draws off his cock. "Keep it quiet unless you want everyone to know." He pats Alex's thigh. "I think Patches is next door."

Alex groans. "Don't talk about our team when you're blowing me."

"Stay quiet and I won't have to." Brandon grins at the glare Alex throws him, and goes back down.

The next noise Alex makes, when Brandon cups his balls in one hand, is muffled, and Brandon looks up to see him pressing his mouth into his own forearm.

"Don't hurt yourself there," Brandon says.

Alex groans a little louder. "Don't stop."

Brandon mouths at the side of Alex's cock, using just his lips for a bit before he goes all the way down on him again. Alex is all the way hard now, cock thick and full in Brandon's mouth.

Brandon works him over with careful attention to what makes Alex buck his hips up, what makes him groan, what makes him grab at Brandon. Stroking his fingers up behind Alex's balls makes him pull his arm away from his mouth to swear at Brandon.

Brandon grins as best he can around Alex's cock and keeps up that teasing touch along with the suction on Alex's cock. He doesn't really need Alex's warning to know he's about to come, but he appreciates Alex's thoughtfulness just the same. He goes down as far as he can, lips a tight seal around Alex's cock, and sucks hard, swallowing what he can when Alex gives a probably muffled enough shout as he comes.

Brandon wipes his mouth with the back of his hand and pushes himself up, crouching over Alex like he did to start all this.

"Ow," Alex says. "I think I bit my arm too hard."

Brandon tugs Alex's arm away from his face and turns it to see the bite marks sunk into his skin. "Hmm," he says. "You're going to get a lot of questions if that leaves a mark."

Alex turns his arm to look at it. "I don't think it will." He rubs at the mark with his other hand.

Brandon takes his arm and brings it up to kiss over the bite marks. "There," he says, "all better."

Alex's lips twitch into a smile. "That only works on little kids."

"Is that so?" Brandon rubs his thumb along the soft underside of Alex's arm. "Are you thinking about it now?"

"No," Alex admits. He tugs at Brandon, hand curved around the back of Brandon's head. "I only think about you now." He kisses Brandon slow and lazy.

"If you're only thinking about me," Brandon says, "how about getting me off?" He rubs his cock against Alex's hip.

"Okay," Alex agrees. "Do you want me to blow you or jerk you off?"

Brandon groans into Alex's neck. "Whatever you want to do."

Alex pushes Brandon off him, just a little, and gets Brandon's cock out. He's good enough with his hands to be coordinated even though he just came, and he strokes Brandon with a perfect, tight, rough grip.

Brandon doesn't have to resort to biting into his own arm; he puts his mouth on Alex's neck instead and lets that muffle his noises. He's careful not to bite down when he comes, opens his mouth wide instead, lips and tongue pressed hard to Alex's skin.

Alex lets him enjoy the afterglow for a minute before he says, "Ugh. You slobbered all over me."

Brandon sighs and then pulls back to look at Alex. "I came all over you too." He nuzzles at the dry side of Alex's neck. "You should probably clean up before you go back to your room."

"You made the mess. You should clean me up."

Brandon just laughs at Alex, and he rolls over onto his back to watch Alex walk to the bathroom.

Alex comes back a few minutes later with a damp washcloth that he runs gently over Brandon's cock. "You see," he says, "I am much nicer than you."

"I sucked your cock," Brandon says. "That was pretty nice of me."

"You would have done that anyway because you like it." Alex takes the washcloth back to the bathroom.

"I do like it." Brandon hooks his arm around Alex and pulls him down onto the bed. "I like you."

Alex smiles at him, one of the simple, happy ones, and kisses Brandon softly. "I like you too."

*

Brandon's having lunch in the lounge after practice when Alex comes in, still sweaty and concerned looking with Vanya in his arms and a diaper bag slung over his shoulder. His face clears a little when he comes over to where Brandon's sitting at the counter.

"I told Anna I would babysit, but I'm not done yet. Can you-"

Brandon reaches out for Vanya before Alex finishes the question. "Yeah, I can take him." He smiles at Vanyushka and kisses his forehead. "We're going to have fun while Uncle Sasha finishes his workout."

"Thank you," Alex says as he passes the diaper bag over. "Seriously, Prusty, thank you so much."

Conscious of the people around them, Brandon doesn't lean over and kiss Alex the way he wants to. Instead he shifts Vanya to his other arm and puts one hand on Alex's back. "Alex, it's fine. Go finish your workout."

Alex meets his eyes for a charged, silent moment that Brandon likes to think means he would be getting kissed if there weren't people around. "Okay," Alex says. He puts his hand on top of Vanya's head. "You be good for Prusty. You can be terrible for Gally if he comes to see you."

Brandon laughs, which makes Vanya laugh and Alex smile at both of them.

"Go," Brandon says. "We'll have some Cheerios and play while we wait for you."

"The Cheerios are for him, not you," Alex says, and he pulls a container of them out of one of the diaper bag's pockets.

Brandon takes the container from him and waves Alex away. Vanya is already reaching for the container, so Brandon moves his plate far enough away that Vanya can't reach it and puts a small handful of Cheerios on the counter.

Brandon keeps one arm hooked around Vanya so he can't squirm out of his grasp and lets him grab at the Cheerios while Brandon finishes his lunch. Brandon uses his fork to take careful bites; Vanya smashes Cheerios against the counter or grabs them in his fist and smashes them into his mouth.

"Yeah, buddy," Brandon says when Vanya holds a hand covered in Cheerio crumbs up to him. "Good job there."

Vanyushka gives him a wide grin, so like Anna and Alex's smiles, and babbles happily before stuffing another half-smashed Cheerio into his mouth.

P.K. slides onto the stool next to Brandon and asks Vanya, "Hey, bud, what's that you've got there?"

Vanya babbles something unintelligible and grabs at Cheerios with both hands.

"Cheerios," P.K. says. "Sweet. You gonna share those?"

Vanya smashes a Cheerio into his mouth. It takes him two tries to get it in his mouth instead of on his face around his mouth.

P.K. laughs. "Man, everyone's keeping me away from carbs."

"You don't want to know what Chucky would do to you if you took his nephew's Cheerios," Brandon says.

"I think I could take him."

Brandon grins sharply at him. "I'd be on his side."

P.K. chuckles. "You've got a couple of uncles looking out for you, huh?" He rubs Vanya's shoulder. "Yeah, you do."

Brandon takes another bite of his lunch so he doesn't say or do something stupid because of how much he likes having P.K. call him Vanya's uncle.

P.K. smirks at him like he knows anyway, and keeps up a fairly steady stream of chatter aimed at Vanya.

Brandon finishes his lunch but stays at the counter until Vanya seems to be done with his Cheerios. There's Cheerio dust all over the counter and all over him.

"You're a mess," Brandon says affectionately. He presses a kiss to the top of Vanya's head. There are baby wipes in a pocket of the bag Alex left with him, so he uses one of those to wipe Cheerio crumbs off of Vanya's hands and face, and off the counter. "There we go," he says. "Now you can use that adorable face to get yourself out of trouble again."

Vanya squirmed while Brandon was cleaning him up, but now he seems to get that Brandon's saying something good to him. He smiles brightly and grabs at Brandon's beard.

"Oh, yeah," Brandon says with a laugh. "Like the trouble you'll get into for grabbing people's beards." He twists away from Vanya's grip and pretends to bite at his hands instead.

Vanya shrieks with laughter.

Brandon's been occupied enough with Vanya that he hasn't been paying attention to the rest of the room, so it comes as something of a surprise to him when Pricey says, from right next to him, "Baby fever." Brandon looks up in time to watch Pricey slap P.K. on the back. "You know you're looking at that kid like you look at carbs?"

P.K. dissolves into laughter. "Like you're any better."

Pricey shrugs, unconcerned. "I've got someone to be my baby mama. It's just a matter of time." He rubs Vanya's shoulder the same way P.K. did. "Hey, little man. You keeping Prusty busy?"

Vanya looks at Pricey, and then he buries his head in Brandon's shirt, fussing a little.

"Your face scared the kid," P.K. says delightedly.

Brandon ignores P.K. and Pricey and rubs Vanya's back. "Was that too many people?" He hefts Vanya up a little so it's more comfortable to hold him against his chest. "Okay, how about we go over here, just us?" He cedes the stool he's been sitting on to Pricey and takes Vanya over to a corner of the room where they can sit on the floor and be out of the way.

"Let's see what your mama packed to keep you busy." The diaper bag is the size of a small suitcase. When Brandon unzips the main zipper, there's a blanket on top that he shakes out onto the floor, and a few of Vanya's toys below that.

Brandon fishes out a couple of plastic things that Vanya can grab, bang together, or chew on, and puts them on the blanket for Vanya to pick up what he wants.

The way he can watch a baby chew on toys and be utterly fascinated is still a novelty to Brandon, and he loses track of anything else going on in the room in favor of talking softly to Vanya while he plays.

Alex is dressed in his street clothes, coat draped over his arm, when he appears next to Brandon. He crouches down to smile at Vanya. He says something in Russian, and Vanyushka positively beams at him.

Brandon knocks his shoulder against Alex's. "You eat yet?"

Alex shakes his head. "I will take him home and then eat."

"I'm not in a hurry," Brandon says. "If you want to eat first, we're having fun." He reaches out to rub Vanya's arm. "We can keep hanging out."

"Okay," Alex says. "If you're sure."

Brandon lets his voice drop low, intimate and too quiet to be overheard by the few people in the room. "Alex, I love hanging out with you and Vanya."

Alex gives him a wide-eyed look that melts into something soft that would be the prelude to a kiss if they were alone. They're still at the rink, though, and Alex has enough sense to only rest his hand on Brandon's shoulder for a moment before he gets up. He comes back a few minutes later with a plate, and he sits cross-legged on the edge of the blanket to eat.

Then it's a lot like hanging out with Alex and Vanya at home, except for the space between Brandon and Alex. If they were at home, Brandon would have Alex pressed up against him and he could turn his head and kiss him whenever he wanted. They're probably not fooling anyone paying much attention to them anyway, but it's late enough that there aren't that many people around to notice. Brandon's deeply thankful that the 24CH cameras aren't in the room with them. They could probably spin something friendly and innocuous out of it for them, but he's glad he doesn't have to try.

Alex puts his plate away when he's done eating, and then he swings Vanya up into the air.

Brandon grins up at them while Vanya squeals with laughter and waves his arms around.

Alex winces when Vanya whacks him with the toy still in his hand, and gently takes it away from him.

Brandon reaches up for it, and repacks the diaper bag while Alex makes Vanya laugh, and then he takes Vanya while Alex puts on his coat. Alex gets Vanya's coat and hat on next, and slings the diaper bag over his shoulder when Brandon hands it to him.

Brandon wants, very badly, to kiss Alex. He settles for waving goodbye to Vanya and catching both Alex and Vanyushka in a one-armed hug.

"Prusty," Alex says seriously, "thank you."

Brandon ruffles his hair instead of kissing him senseless. "You don't have to thank me. I had fun."

Alex hmms. "I will find some way to thank you." The words sound completely innocent coming out of his mouth, but there's a look in his eyes that sends anticipatory shivers down Brandon's spine.

He doesn't have a good comeback for that, and Alex smirks as he leaves.

*

Alex texts, _Are you home?_ late that evening, after Brandon's eaten, while he's lying on the couch catching up on what's stored on his DVR.

He sends back, _Yes._

_I'm coming over._

Brandon grins at the presumptuousness of that and fast forwards through the boring parts of the show he's watching while he waits for Alex. He turns off the TV when Alex knocks on his door, and idly thinks about giving Alex a key so he wouldn't even have to get off the couch when Alex comes over.

He's smiling at that thought when he opens the door, and Alex smiles back at him, wide and happy.

"Hi." Brandon pushes the door shut and loops his arms around Alex's shoulders. He gives Alex just enough time to return the greeting before he kisses him, soft and slow like he couldn't earlier.

Alex kisses him back the same way for a little bit, and then he deepens it and pushes Brandon against the wall. "I'm going to blow you now."

"Yeah, okay," Brandon says, dizzy with the sudden rush of lust. He thunks his head against the wall as Alex goes to his knees, right there in Brandon's entryway, still dressed all the way down to his coat.

Alex grins up at him and gets Brandon's cock out, shoving his sweats and boxer briefs just far enough down his thighs to make that possible. Brandon's a little turned on already from making out with Alex, and he gets all the way there pretty fast with Alex at his feet jerking him off slowly.

Alex sucks him then, mouth tight and hot around Brandon's cock.

Brandon brings his hands down to Alex's hair. He doesn't pull or try to make Alex do anything he's not - what he's doing is so good Brandon doesn't want him to do anything else - but he needs to touch, to feel Alex under his hands.

Alex swallows around him when Brandon comes. Brandon's knees tremble, and it's only the wall he's leaning against that keeps him upright while Alex draws off his cock, licks his lips, and smiles up at Brandon before he stands up.

Alex leans in, caging Brandon against the wall, and kisses him, as thoroughly as he just blew him.

Brandon's used to making his muscles work when he's been pushed to his physical limits, so he gets it together enough to wrap his arms around Alex and kiss him back.

Brandon pulls away to breathe and says, "I'm going to get you off now."

"You don't have to," Alex says. "The blowjob was to thank you."

"You can keep thanking me by letting me watch you come," Brandon says firmly. He kisses the grin off of Alex's face and gets his coat open and his jeans unbuttoned.

Alex stays pressed close to him, his breath stuttering out in small gasps while Brandon jerks him off with sure, even strokes. Brandon kisses Alex's cheek, his mouth when Alex turns his head enough for that, rubs his beard against Alex's skin.

Brandon pushes Alex back a little when he can tell that Alex is getting close. "Come on, Alex," he murmurs. "Let me see you come." He twists his hand on Alex's cock, trying to add another level of sensation to it.

Alex gasps out Brandon's name and says, "Yeah, yeah, I'm going to," and then comes all over Brandon's hand.

Brandon takes Alex's weight and wraps his other arm around Alex's shoulders when Alex slumps into him. They rest against the wall for a minute, Alex panting into his neck and Brandon feeling smug about how hard he just made Alex come.

Brandon nuzzles Alex's cheek. "You want to hang out for a while?"

Alex turns his head and kisses Brandon softly. "Yeah."

They separate so Alex can take his coat off and Brandon can go wash his hands, and they meet again at the couch. Brandon tucks himself up against Alex, slouching down so he fits easily under the arm Alex throws around his shoulders and can lean his head on Alex's shoulder. He lets Alex decide what they're going to watch off of the DVR, or, more to the point, doesn't protest when Alex picks up the remote and chooses something.

Brandon rests one hand on Alex's thigh, fingers curving in, not to do anything with it, just to touch him. It's comfortable. All of this is comfortable.

At a slow part - Brandon's seen later episodes and knows the outline of what happens - Brandon squeezes Alex's thigh to get his attention and says, "P.K. called me Vanya's uncle."

Alex tightens his arm around Brandon's shoulder. "He did?"

"Mmhmm." Brandon tips his head to look at Alex, but Alex is wearing one of those inscrutable looks where he doesn't give away what he's thinking. "That okay?"

"Yes," Alex says. "If it does not bother you."

Brandon turns a little more toward Alex. "It doesn't _bother_ me. I liked it. I want to be his uncle. I want to be his uncle because I'm with you."

"Oh," Alex says, and his eyes get a little wide before he smiles, soft and easy. "Yes," he says. "I want that too." He leans in and kisses Brandon. "You are his uncle too."

Brandon kisses him, harder and deeper than Alex kissed him. "Okay," he says. "Good."

"Good," Alex echoes, and they grin at each other like fools for a minute before they settle into being cuddled together again.

*

They lose, badly, to the Leafs at home. It's not a good game for anyone, and the Leafs get one of their goals off a turnover from Alex.

Alex is predictably upset, not that any of them are happy about it. But most of them are just hurling their jerseys into the bin with varying degrees of force and getting on with their post-game rituals. Alex is standing in front of his stall muttering shit about how he fucked up. Brandon's had more time to get used to the occasional bad game; he's still pissed about it now, but once he's away from the rink, he'll be able to let it go until they have to dissect their play in meetings tomorrow. 

Brandon's also used to being the voice of reason and experience for Alex and Gally, so he goes over to Alex. "Chucky." Brandon puts his hand on Alex's shoulder. Alex shrugs it off, which Brandon half expected. "Man, you gotta let some of that go. We'll do better next game."

Alex spins around and glares at him. "In case you forgot, you're not on our line anymore," he spits out, vicious in a way he isn't usually with Brandon. "I don't need a fucking babysitter."

Brandon steps back, stung. "Fine," he snaps, and he turns away to his own stall. He gets out of his pads with deliberate care, does his post-game workout, takes a shower, puts on his suit, and goes home, all without looking at Alex.

He understands, sort of, that Alex didn't want comfort or didn't want it from him, but it still hurt to have Alex push him away. They were friends before they were dating, and it wouldn't have been the first time Brandon gave him advice after a bad game.

Brandon tries to take his own advice to let some of it go. He changes into pajama pants and a t-shirt at home and throws together something to eat that he doesn't really taste. Sometimes it takes him a while to settle after games, but tonight he just wants to fall into bed and let it all wash away into sleep.

That doesn't mean he falls asleep once he gets into bed. He's still awake, not quite to drifting, when his phone buzzes with a text.

It's from Alex: _Still awake?_

Brandon could not answer, let it go until tomorrow with everything else. He weighs his phone in his hand for a minute, thinking about it, but in the end he wants to talk to Alex more than he wants to not deal with how this evening went. Instead of texting back, he turns on the lamp next to his bed and sends Alex a FaceTime request.

Alex is clearly also in bed when he answers, pillow behind his head, camera angle suggesting he's holding his phone up over himself the same way Brandon is.

"Hi," Alex says.

"Hi." Alex wanted to talk, so Brandon doesn't rush to say anything else and lets Alex do it.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you," Alex says after a second.

Brandon exhales and sinks farther into his bed with the sudden release of tension. "Okay," he says. "You okay?"

Alex shrugs. "Are you?" He bites his lip for a second. "Are we?"

"Yeah," Brandon says. "I'm a tough guy. I can take it."

Alex's mouth turns down with a frown. "You should not have to. I am sorry."

Brandon almost wishes it had been an away game so there would only be a short trip down a hallway between them. He wants to kiss that look off of Alex's face. "You were upset," he says. "We're okay. I promise."

Alex sighs. "Okay."

"Are you going to be able to sleep?" Brandon asks.

"Probably not yet," Alex says. "I keep thinking about all the things I did wrong."

"Alex," Brandon says, gentle and careful.

Alex shrugs at him. "It is in my head."

"Hmm," Brandon says. "Want to forget about it and jerk off together?"

Alex looks tempted, like he's going to say yes, and then a frown creases his face and he shakes his head. "I would like to," he says, "but I don't deserve it. Not after tonight's game."

"Alex," Brandon says, and he keeps it gentle; he's speaking as the guy who's dating Alex, not as an older, more experienced teammate. "You gotta let some of it go. You weren't the only one who had a bad game, and it doesn't mean you don't deserve good things too."

"I know," Alex says, and he really looks torn up about it. "I know all that, but in my head it's all." He waves his free hand in gesture that's probably meant to describe how mixed up his head is.

Brandon's heart hurts with him. That's love, he supposes.

"I can't let go of it," Alex says. "And I don't deserve-"

Brandon cuts him off, thinks hard about how much he loves Alex when he says, as gently as he can, "Sashenka."

Alex's eyes go wide and his mouth snaps shut.

"You don't have to earn anything from me," Brandon says. "Or with me. You already have it." It's the closest he's come to outright telling Alex he loves him.

Alex's voice is just the tiniest bit shaky when he says, "That's not fair. Your name doesn't work like mine does. I don't have something like that to call you."

Brandon smiles at him, and he can see in the corner of his screen that the way he feels about Alex is written all over his face. "You'll come up with something."

Alex's face scrunches up for a minute, the way it does when he's thinking hard, and then it smoothes out and he says, "Solnyshko moy." He says it just as softly and tenderly as Brandon said his name.

"What does that mean?" Brandon asks, keeping his voice soft to match.

"My sun," Alex says, "like sunshine."

Brandon can feel the smile spread across his face. "Yeah? Do I light up your life?"

Alex collapses into what can only be called giggles, the video on Brandon's screen shaking with Alex's body. "Yes," Alex says, smiling brightly.

"Good. I want to." Brandon yawns, his sudden exhaustion catching him by surprise, like his body is deciding that he's done with the day now that he's made Alex smile.

Alex's smile dims into something softer. "I'm keeping you up."

Brandon shrugs. "Are you going to be able to sleep?"

"Yes," Alex says after a moment. "Not right away, but yes."

"Good," Brandon says. "Good night, Alex."

"Good night, Brandon."

The last thing Brandon sees before he closes FaceTime is Alex smiling softly at him.

*

"We going to do something Friday?" Brandon asks Alex while they're hanging out by the pool in Florida. They have a game later, for the second night in a row, but they're all ready to soak up as much sun as they can while they're here. Most of the rest of the guys have either gone upstairs to nap or joined in the water war P.K. has going on at the other end of the pool. Brandon can't put his hands all over Alex the way he wants to with Alex lounging around shirtless, chest and shoulders on display, but they're alone enough for the moment to make plans.

Alex looks up from his phone, and then turns it off and sets it on the small table between their chairs.

Brandon raises his eyebrows at that; he didn't think making plans for a night when they don't have a game was that serious a conversation.

"You could come over for dinner," Alex says.

"You going to cook for me?"

"No," Alex says. "My mom will. My dad will be there, and Anna and Peter and Vanya."

Brandon raises his eyebrows again; maybe this is a serious conversation. "Are you taking me home to meet your family?"

"You've already met my family," Alex says, somewhere between sulky and exasperated.

"I've met everyone in your family," Brandon says. "You've never taken me home for dinner."

Alex folds his arms over his chest. "Do you want to come to dinner or not?"

"Yes," Brandon says. "Of course I want to come to dinner." He watches while Alex relaxes and drops his hands to his sides, and then asks, "Have you ever brought a boyfriend home before?"

Alex smiles at him, a small, soft thing. "No."

"So I'm the first."

"Yes," Alex confirms. Then he looks up at Brandon from under his eyelashes, which is a neat trick for a guy as tall as he is. "Maybe the last one too."

That socks the breath out of Brandon. It's an even clearer declaration than Alex saying that Brandon is Vanya's uncle too.

"Yeah," Brandon says when he gets his voice back. "You know, you're my sunshine too."

Alex beams at him like the sunshine Brandon just named him.

When they go upstairs, Brandon tugs Alex into his room and kisses him long and slow before he pushes him back out into the hallway to go to his own room.

*

Alex answers the door on Friday wearing the green sweater and holding Vanya tucked against one shoulder. Brandon's heart stops and restarts triple-time.

"Hi," Alex says. "Vanyushka just got up from a late nap." He smiles at the baby, tender and adoring, and Brandon can't stand to not be touching him.

"Hi," Brandon says. He puts his hand on Alex's cheek to draw his attention and leans in to kiss him soft and slow.

Alex's eyes are wide when he looks at Brandon after that. "Hi," he says, again, his tone almost making it a question.

"Hi." Brandon smiles softly at him, and hands Alex his coat and the bottle of wine he brought while he reaches for the baby. "Hi, nephew," he says. "Come see Uncle Brandon." Vanyushka is a warm, still slightly sleepy weight in his arms, and Brandon tucks him against his chest carefully.

He looks up when Alex says, "Oh." There's a look on Alex's face that Brandon doesn't quite recognize, but he's pretty sure he knows what it feels like from the other side.

"Yeah," Brandon says, and he's pretty sure he's sending that same look of awed love back at him. "Now you get it."

Alex surges forward and kisses Brandon hard. They're careful not to squish Vanya between them, but they're not careful about anything else. They're both breathing faster when they break apart, Vanya still calm and sleepy against Brandon's chest, and Alex's hair is a mess where Brandon had his free hand tangled in it.

Alex steps back and hangs up Brandon's coat. "Come in," he says after another moment.

Brandon grabs Alex's arm and tugs him close so he can smooth Alex's hair back down. He takes advantage of having Alex close and his hand cupped around the back of Alex's head to press another brief kiss to his lips.

Alex takes his hand to lead him farther into the house. It feels good. They're usually in public or at Brandon's smaller place; they don't hold hands much. Brandon likes it even more when they get to the kitchen where Alex's family is, having all of them see that Brandon and Alex are together.

"Brandon brought wine," Alex announces to his family, which means they really all look at Brandon and Alex.

"Thank you," Inna says. She comes over to take the wine from Alex and hug Brandon. He has to drop Alex's hand to return it.

Alex Sr. comes over to shake his hand next, while Inna makes Alex open the wine, and then Peter shakes his hand and Anna hugs him.

Vanya lifts his head up when Anna's there and babbles, meaningless syllables all strung together.

Anna smiles at him and answers in Russian before she presses a kiss to his cheek. "My sweet boy, you should talk to your Uncle Brandon too."

She steps back, and Vanya does turn his babble on Brandon. He also grabs at Brandon's beard.

Gently detangling Vanya's fingers keeps Brandon from being swamped by the wave of joy that Anna naming him Vanya's uncle sends through him. He pretends to bite at Vanya's hand, which still works to make Vanya shriek with laughter and bat his hands around.

Alex hands out glasses of wine, bringing Brandon his last and staying there, hand low on Brandon's back, smiling at Vanyushka after they toast and drink.

"Remember this," Inna says, looking at Brandon and Alex and then at Anna and Peter. "Someday your sweet boy will be all grown up, and you will miss the days when he was so small."

"Mama," Alex says, half protest and half affection.

"It is true." Inna comes over to Brandon and Alex. Despite the protest, Alex bends so she can smack a kiss onto his cheek, and then she goes over to kiss Anna too. "You remember these days."

"I promise, Mama," Anna says. She looks over at Brandon, at Vanya, and Brandon returns her smile.

"I will remember," Alex says. His hand rubs gentle circles into the small of Brandon's back.

Brandon doesn't think he'll ever be able to forget what this is like, his introduction into being part of Alex's family. He's looking forward to watching Vanya grow up, but even now he knows there's something special about this time, when he's so tiny, and something special about this first evening spent with Alex's family.

Inna brushes a finger over Vanya's cheek on her way back to the stove.

"So what was Alex like as a baby?" Brandon asks.

Alex goes from smiling to scowling.

Brandon chuckles. "You brought me home," he says. "That means I get to ask your family for stories about you growing up."

Inna laughs too. "Much like he is now."

"Very serious about some things," Alex Sr. says. "But so full of laughter sometimes."

"I'll show you pictures," Anna promises. She ignores Alex turning his scowl on her. "He was a cute kid. Not quite as cute as mine, but cute."

Alex opens his mouth, then stops and shakes his head. "He is very cute." He turns toward Brandon. "You are very cute," he says to Vanya, and then something in Russian.

Vanya reaches out to him, a lunge that has Brandon bringing up his other arm to keep Vanya from falling while also trying not to spill his wine.

Alex chuckles and stops touching Brandon to hold Vanya instead. Brandon takes Alex's wine glass so he has both hands free to deal with a squirrely baby. Alex smiles at him, and leans his shoulder against Brandon's.

Brandon smiles at the two of them, and then asks Peter, "How's business?" He's not entirely sure what it is Peter does, only that it's something in finance that allows him to travel between Miami and Montreal.

"Oh, you know," Peter says, "the market is the market."

Brandon nods like he knows what Peter's talking about. They don't have much common ground outside of their place as the non-Russian members of the family.

When Inna announces that dinner is ready, Alex hands Vanya over to Peter while he and Anna help carry dishes, and then they all sit down around a table practically groaning under the weight of so much food.

Vanya gets bite-sized pieces of some of the dishes, and he gets food all over his hands and his face while the rest of them keep up a lively conversation over dinner.

When they're finished eating, Inna refuses Brandon's offer to help clear the table and has Alex help instead.

Brandon grins at him. "Even big NHL stars have to do their chores."

Alex digs his elbow into Brandon's shoulder when he leans over him to grab plates off the table. Brandon just laughs at him, and Alex grins back and presses a quick kiss to Brandon's temple.

Brandon turns to watch Alex walk to the kitchen. It's a nice view. "You can come home with me sometime," he says, "and see what kinds of chores my mom makes me do."

Alex gives him a soft, sweet smile from the kitchen and kisses his cheek on his next trip from the table to the kitchen.

They adjourn to the living room when Alex and Inna finish cleaning up from dinner and Anna finishes cleaning up Vanya so he can be somewhere that isn't easily wiped down plastic. Alex sits next to Brandon on the couch, Peter sits on the floor with Vanya, and Alex Sr. and Inna sit in chairs. Anna grabs something off of a shelf and comes over to sit on Brandon's other side.

"No," Alex says, and he grabs for the book she's holding and continues talking in Russian.

Anna calmly but firmly keeps the book away from him. "You showed Peter my baby pictures when he first came for dinner."

Brandon intervenes, batting Alex's hands back. "I definitely want to see your baby pictures."

Alex slumps against his side.

Brandon puts an arm around his shoulders. "I'm sure you were a cute baby." He smacks a kiss onto Alex's cheek.

"You've tweeted some of them," Anna says, "so chill out."

Alex grumbles, "That's different," but he settles in against Brandon and doesn't try to stop Anna again.

"Oh, you were cute," Brandon says when Anna opens the book. The first few pages are all of Alex as a baby, many of them with a smiling Anna, some with other people. He laughs when Anna turns to a page where Alex looks less than pleased. "I know that look."

Alex gives him the same scowl he's aiming at the camera in the photo.

Brandon laughs harder.

"He's always made that face," Anna says.

"Always," Inna confirms. "You are lucky Vanya doesn't do the same thing."

Anna heaves a sigh that's obviously faked. "He'll probably learn it from spending so much time with his Uncle Sasha." She pats Brandon's arm. "You'll have to make sure he smiles a lot so Vanya learns that instead."

"I'm going to try," Brandon promises.

Despite threats to the contrary, Anna restrains herself to one photo album of Alex as a kid. Brandon gets to hear a couple of stories, about Alex playing hockey, about their move to Italy, about Anna and Alex making new friends every time they moved.

They talk about other things after Anna puts the photo album away, an easy, wandering conversation that pauses occasionally when Vanya demands everyone's attention.

Inna and Alex Sr. go up to bed while the rest of them are still chatting.

"Thank you for dinner," Brandon says when he stands up to shake Alex Sr.'s hand and hug Inna. Alex Sr. smiles at him and Inna kisses his cheek.

"We are glad to have you," she says. "You will have to come back."

"I promise," Brandon says.

Brandon wasn't too nervous about making a good impression on Alex's parents, but he does relax a little more when it's down to just the two of them and Anna, Peter, and Vanya. He sits down on the floor with Vanya and Peter, smiling widely at the baby when he babbles and waves one of his toys his way.

Anna sits down with them too and scoops Vanya up into her lap. She says something to him in Russian.

Brandon looks up and catches Peter's eye. He doesn't look as confused as Brandon feels.

"Do you speak Russian?" Brandon asks.

"Not fluently," Peter says. "I'm still working on it." He grins and shakes Vanya's foot. "Can't have the rest of my family conspiring against me."

"Hmm," Brandon says, and he looks at Alex consideringly. That might be a strategy worth borrowing.

"It's not easy," Peter says, catching on to where Brandon's going with this. "I've been working on it for a while and having Anna help me, and I'm still not fluent."

"You're getting better," Anna says, and then something in Russian that makes Peter smile at her and Alex roll his eyes.

"I understand about half the conversations around here," Peter says. He looks from Brandon to Alex. "It's probably worth your time if you're going to stick around."

"That's the plan," Brandon says easily. He looks up at Alex, who's frowning. Brandon shrugs to let him know he doesn't mind Peter hassling him. He can take it, and he can shut it down if it gets worse.

Peter changes the subject anyway, asking about their last road trip and letting them all move on to less fraught lines of conversation.

Vanya gets tired after a while, eyes blinking slowly between bouts of fussiness.

Anna says something in Russian and then, "Bedtime for this one." She lifts Vanya up, from her lap to her shoulder, and Peter stands and offers her a hand up.

"For us too," Peter says with a yawn.

Brandon stands with them, to shake Peter's hand, hug Anna, and press a kiss to Vanyushka's cheek. Alex also kisses Vanya goodnight before Peter and Anna take him upstairs, and then it's just Brandon and Alex in the living room.

Brandon puts his arms around Alex and kisses him, because he can and because he wants to. Alex kisses him back and is smiling every time they break apart.

"You could stay," Alex says after a few minutes, his hand carding through Brandon's hair. "Spend the night."

Brandon raises his eyebrows. "With your family here?"

"They know we are together," Alex says. "They know I stay at your place. Peter always stayed here before he and Anna got married."

"Peter lived in Miami," Brandon points out, "not fifteen minutes away."

"It will be fine," Alex says. He draws back. "If you don't want to-"

"I want to," Brandon rushes to say. He tugs Alex closer and kisses him deeply. Alex kisses him back, his momentary reticence melting into eager participation, and they don't stop kissing until they're both hard and Alex has one hand gripping Brandon's ass and the other tangled deeply in his hair.

"Not here," Alex mutters into Brandon's mouth. He locks the front door and turns out lights as they go upstairs. His voice is a soft murmur as tells Brandon whose rooms the doors along the hallway lead to. His room is at the end, and he turns on the light as they go into it, closes and locks the door behind them.

Brandon takes a moment to look around. Alex has a large bed, only a few pictures on the walls, two open doors that Brandon can see through into his closet and bathroom. The bed is the most important part. Well, the bed and Alex.

Brandon gets his hands on Alex again, sliding them under the edge of his sweater and onto the skin beneath. Brandon's already hard, but touching Alex while getting to look at him in the green sweater makes his breath come even faster.

Alex slides his mouth over Brandon's. "Too bad we have a game tomorrow. I want to fuck you."

Brandon groans. "You can finger me," he suggests. "And next time we don't have a game I can come over and you can fuck me in your bed."

Alex surges against him, hands grabbing hard at Brandon. "Yes," he says against Brandon's mouth, his chin, his neck.

Brandon chuckles a little, digging his fingers into Alex's hips in return. "Yes to which part?"

"All of it," Alex says. "Everything. Take your clothes off."

Brandon laughs and steps back to strip his shirt off. He raises his eyebrows when Alex just stands there watching him.

"I want to watch you," Alex says.

Just for that, Brandon takes his pants off as slowly as he can. It doesn't work to goad Alex into doing anything other than watching, but Brandon likes it anyway. Alex isn't trying to hide his interest, and Brandon likes watching the way his lips part and his eyes darken.

Brandon pushes his boxer briefs down slowly, too, and strokes his cock a few times once he's naked. "You going to keep just watching?" he asks when Alex still doesn't move toward him.

"Maybe," Alex says, frank appreciation on his face. "You should do that in my bed."

Brandon suppresses a shiver at the suggestion and then goes over to push the covers aside so he can stretch out in Alex's bed. He wraps his hand back around his cock and jerks himself off slowly, easily. He's not trying to get himself off, just giving Alex a show.

"Enjoying yourself?"

Alex hums an agreement and climbs over Brandon to get into the nightstand on the other side of the bed. He's still dressed, all the way down to that sweater that makes him look so good Brandon has a hard time not jerking off with more purpose.

Alex settles back onto his knees next to Brandon and holds up the lube in explanation. Brandon nods at him, suddenly breathless with how much he wants Alex to touch him. He has to wait a moment for Alex to pour lube into his fingers, and then Alex touches him, one finger rubbing wetly against his hole.

Brandon gasps at the way it lights him up inside. "Fuck," he breathes out. "I wish you could just fuck me."

"Me too," Alex says simply, and he bends over to kiss Brandon while he pushes one finger into him.

They kiss a lot while Alex fingers him, one finger and then two, careful with it at first, and then less so, Alex's fingers thick and rough inside him, fucking into him while he jerks himself off and tries to be quiet enough that they won't be heard by anyone else in the house.

"You look really good like this," Alex says. "I like having you in my bed."

Brandon groans, probably too loud, and uses his free hand to pull Alex into another fierce kiss. "Now you know how I feel every time you come over to my place."

"Hmm," Alex says, and then he grins sharply. "We don't always get to your bed." He moves his fingers, slow and torturously good inside Brandon.

"It was your idea to come up here," Brandon gasps out. "We could have-" His words cut off when Alex moves his fingers again and it feels too good for him to think about anything else.

"I want to watch you come," Alex says. He matches the words with another slow drag of his fingers in Brandon.

"Yeah," Brandon says, because he can't form any more words than that. He stops trying to make it last, jerks himself off hard with the intent of making himself come. Alex helps, his fingers pressing just right inside of Brandon, his eyes dark as he watches, his mouth hot against Brandon's every time he bends in to kiss him. They're not kissing when Brandon comes, mouth going wide as he tries not to shout with how good it feels.

"Brandon," Alex says hoarsely. He kisses Brandon hard, pulls his fingers out of him gently, grabs for a tissue from the nightstand to wipe them clean.

"What do you want?" Brandon asks. He's still gasping with the intensity of coming. "I can blow you."

Alex groans and tugs his sweater up. Brandon would be sorry to see it go, but he gets to look at Alex's chest instead, and then Alex pushes down his pants and underwear and he gets to look at Alex's cock too, flushed and hard, wet at the tip.

"Yeah," Brandon says, his mouth watering with the need to taste Alex. "Come here." He shifts, props himself up on one of Alex's pillows so he's at a better angle to get at Alex.

Alex gets all the way out of his clothes before he takes Brandon up on the invitation. His knees settle on either side of Brandon and he holds his cock with the hand that wasn't inside Brandon as he guides it into Brandon's mouth.

Alex moans, too loud but not seeming to care, when Brandon closes his lips around his cock. "Brandon," he says, "you look-" He jerks his hips. Brandon pats his thigh to let him know it's okay, and that he doesn't mind if this is fast.

It is fast, Brandon sucking around Alex while Alex fucks shallowly into his mouth, a bare minute or two before Alex chokes out a warning and his come floods Brandon's mouth.

"Fuck," Alex says, and then, "Sorry," as he moves away.

"When have I ever minded having you come in my mouth?" Brandon keeps Alex from moving very far and kisses him, brief kisses to start, while they both catch their breath, and then longer ones, deep and slow.

They get up after a while to clean up. Alex has a spare toothbrush for Brandon, and for all the other things they've done, there's something so very intimate about brushing their teeth side by side at the sink.

They go to bed naked, Alex waiting for Brandon to climb into it before turning off the light and joining him. Brandon blinks against the darkness, waiting for his eyes to adjust enough for him to find Alex's mouth and kiss him.

They make out slow and steady for a bit, and then settle down together, shifting a little to get comfortable. They're still awake, touching each other softly, just to touch because they can.

"For a long time," Alex says, "I think because I'm gay I never have kids. I never get to watch someone grow up, never get to be there for them. Having Vanyushka here is like a miracle."

"Alex," Brandon murmurs. His heart aches for all the things Alex so clearly wants. "Sashenka. Being gay doesn't mean you can't have kids." He keeps his voice soft, secrets whispered in the dark. "It doesn't mean we can't have kids."

The sheets rustle as Alex shifts, moving just a fraction closer to Brandon. "I want that," he confesses so softly Brandon almost can't hear him.

Brandon tugs Alex closer, tucking him against his chest. "Me too," he whispers back.

Alex rubs his cheek against Brandon's shoulder. "I want my kids to grow up with Vanya. With my family around. Like things are now."

Brandon bites back the instinct to argue about spending the rest of his life living with the in-laws he's just getting to know. "We can figure it out," he promises instead. "I don't want them yet. I want just you for now." He kisses Alex, soft and sweet, drinking in the way Alex kisses him back the same way. "We have time."

"Yes," Alex says with a sigh. "Solnyshko moy. We have time."


End file.
